Headlight.



R. H. WELLES.

HEADLIGHT.

APPLICATION FILED 8EPT.19, 1907.

Patented Oct. 4, 1910.

2 BHBETSSHEET 1.

MPH/6f um rvmems PEYERS c0, wAsHmm-mv, v.1;

R. H. WELLES.

HEADLIGHT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.19, 1907.

Patented Oct. 4, 1910.

2 BHEETB-BHEET '2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD H. WELLES, OF KENOSI-IA, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO THE BADGER BRASS MFG. (30., OF KENOSI-IA, WISCONSIN, A. CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

HEADLIGHT.

971,709. Specification of Letters Patent. P t t d O t, 4, 1910, Application filed September 19, 1907. Serial No. 393,623.

To all whom ea may concern: locomotives, boats, etc., both the light which Be it known that I, RICHARD H. VVnLLns, a emanates directly from the front side of the citizen of the United States, residing at burner and that which emanates from the Kenosha, in the county of Kenosha and rear side thereof is utilized; the latter being State of Visconsin, have invented certain reflected, and often refracted, by a suitable 60 new and useful Improvements in Headreflector or combined reflector and refractorlights, of which the following is a specifilocated in rear of the light. The present cation. invention has to do with headlights of this This invention relates to improvements in character and, as will hereinafter appear, is headlights, and refers more specifically to capable of embodiment in a construction 65 improvements in headlights of that type which uses a reflector devoid of refracting which are employed for lighting the road means, or, as shown in the preferred embodiway in advance of vehicles or boats; the ment illustrated, may be utilized with a re particular embodiment shown herein being fracting reflector. 1 suitable for use in connection with auto- Referring to the drawings, 1 designates 70 mobiles. as a whole the headlight casing or barrel, The salient object of the present invention which is shown as consisting of a cylindric is to provide in conjunction with a headside wall member 2, a flaring front rim 3 light an auxiliary mechanism whereby the and an outwardly convex rear end wall l. normal light may be modified or dimmed. Seated in the rear end of the casing is a 75 Subsidiary objects of the invention are to reflector 5 of that type known as a Mangan provide a simple and practical construction mirror; this reflector being of well-known whereby the reflected light may be shut off construction and serving to not only reflect and the direct light refracted insuch manthe rays but to modify their direction so nelas to cause it to serv re ffe tiv ly that the rays emanating from a focal point 80 its purpose in the absence of a reflect d are reflectedand at the same time brought light; to provide to this end a m chanis into parallehsm with each other. For the whereby these two modifications of the light protection of the burner the front end of the are effected simultaneously and by a single casing is closed by a plain glass 6 which as act 011 the part of the operator; to provide Shown is made of uniform thickness 85 a mechanism of this character which is e throughout and therefore does not substantremely simple in construction and ertially vary the direction of the rays passing ation and is devoid of springs and other therethrough. unnecessary complications; to provide a '7 designates the burner nozzle which, as mechanism which when out of operative pousual, enters through the lower side of the 90 sition does not in the slightest interfere with headlight casing, rises vertically therein the normal functions of the headlight; to and terminates in a burner tip located just provide a construction which utilizes the below the focal point 8 of the headlight so combined weight of a shutter and lens to that the burning jet will occupy this focal 40 return these members to their normal reposition. The burner is in this instance 5 tracted or inoperative position; and in gen shown as an acetylene gas burner, and aceral to provide a simple and improved concordingly a gas supply pipe 9 is arranged to struction of the character referred to. connect with the lower end of the burner The invention will be readily understood nozzle at a point outside of the casing. from the following description, reference Referring now more particularly to the being had to the accompanying drawings, dimming mechanism, 9 designates a rockin whichshaft journaled to extend through suitable Figure 1 is a vertical axial sectional view cap-like bearing housings, as 10 and 10' through a headlight equipped with a premounted upon the cylindric exterior of the 50 ferred embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 casing, conveniently at points slightly below is a transverse sectional view taken on line the horizontal diameter of the casing. This 2-2 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction rock-shaft extends parallel with the axis of of the arrows. the headlight and asaconvenient construction In headlights as now commonly organis made rectangularin cross section and has 55 ized for use in connection with automobiles, mounted thereon hubs, as 11 and 11 exteriorly cylindric and journaled at their peripheries between the housing caps 10, 10, and the opposed portions of the side wall or casing, as seen clearly in Fig. 2. 71th each of the hubs 11 and 11 is integrally formed an arm, as 12 and 13; these arms being arranged to extend parallel with each other and carrying at their free ends, the one a lens 14L and the other a shutter 15. The lens 14 s a converging lens of moderate power, and is of such diameter that when held in axial alinement with the focal point 8 of the head light it intercepts all of the direct rays whlch emanating from the focus of the headlight would, except for said lens, pass through the front opening or front glass 5 of the headlight. Conveniently the lens is mounted in a peripheral ring 1 1' which is in turn rlgidly mounted upon the end of the arm 12. In a generally similar manner, the shutter 15 s mounted upon the end of the arm 13 and is of such diameter that when held in axial alinement with the focal point of the headlight it intercepts all rays which would otherwise impinge upon the Mangan mirror 5. That side of the shutter toward the light is unpolished or black so as to absorb the rays and not reflect them; the function of the shutter being to cut off the reflected light. In the construction shown the shutter is made concavo-convex but this form is merely adopted as a convenient means of cutting off the rear light with a shutter of as small diameter as practicable without at the same time bringing the latter too close to the heat of the flame.

At the lower side of the headlight casing are formed two pockets, as 16 and 17; re spectively adapted to receive the principal portions of the lens and shutter when the latter are lowered; these pockets being of sufiicient depth to permit the upper edges of the lens and shutter and the upper edges of the arms which support the latter to descend below or radially outside of the beam of light reflected by the mirror 5. In order to place this mechanism under manual control of the operator, a crank-arm 18 is rigidly mounted upon the rear end of the shaft 9 in approximately right-angled relation to the arms 12 and 13, and with the outer end of this crank-arm is connected a cord 19 which leads thence downwardly to and through a suitably fixed guide 20, conveniently mounted upon the rear side of the pocket 17. From thence the cord leads onward to a position accessible by the operator; being conveniently inclosed in a flexible protecting tubing 21. Normally the lens and shutter rest by gravity in the pockets 1G and 17 respectively, but upon pulling upon the cord the rock-shaft is oscillated and the dimming devices lifted upwardly into operative position. In order to arrest them in proper relation to the focal point of the headlight, the upper side of the arm is arranged to impinge against the opposed upper side of the bearing, the latter thus forming a stop as indicated at 22. As soon as the tension on the cord is released the dimming devices obviously return by gravity to the pockets. In order that the dimming mechanisms of a pair of headlights may be operated together by the same operating cord, a second crank-arm 23 may be mounted upon the rock-shaft 9, and from the upper end of this crank-arm a cord 241 is extended horizontally across to the companion headlight where it connects with a corresponding arm upon the rock-shaft of that mechanism. It will be noted that in order to avoid interference, on the part of the arm 23 with the headlight casing, the rock-shaft 9 is extended rearwardly beyond the rear end of the headlight, as shown clearly in Fig. 1, and the arm 23 mounted on its extreme end.

The operation of controlling the light by means of this dimming mechanism will be obvious from the foregoing description. It is to be noted, however, that whenever the dimming mechanism is in operative position the beam of parallel reflected rays is completely out off while the beam of direct light is converged from the normally wide angle bounded by the inner perimeter of the front rim of the headlight to a considerably narrower angle, with a corresponding intensification of the field illuminated by this direct light. It is the beam of parallel rays which causes the glare which tends to blind and confuse those within its range, and the cutting oif of this beam obviously eliminates that objection. At the Same time the direct light is normally so diffused, 2'. c. it covers such a wide angle, as to insulticiently illuminate the roadway, but when converged by the lens 14 the field of illumination, though narrowed, is intensified and made amply strong for temporary purposes. The light is, however, not sufliciently converged to producethe objectionable glaring effect of the beam of parallel rays.

It will be obvious from the foregoing that the dimming mechanism is not necessarily associated with a reflecting mirror of the Mangan type, nor with a headlight provided with a plain glass front, and accordingly I have claimed the same broadly as well as in combination with these elements.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a headlight, the combination with a headlight casing, burner therein and reflecting device in rear of the burner, of a shutter adjustably mounted to move into or out of a position interposed between the burner and said reflecting device, and a lens adjustably mounted to move into and out of position between the burner and the front opening of the headlight.

2. In a headlight, the combination with a headlight casing, burner therein and reflecting device in rear of the burner, of a shutter adj ustably mounted to move into or out of a position interposed between the burner and said reflecting device, and a lens adjustably mounted to move into and out of position between the burner and the front opening of the headlight, said shutter and lens being connected to move together.

3. In a headlight, the combination with a headlight casing, of a concave reflector arranged in the rear of the headlight, a burner arranged in the focus of said reflector, a shutter adapted to be interposed between the burner and reflector, and aconverging lens mounted to move laterally into and out of position in front of the burner.

4. In a headlight, the combination with a headlight casing, of a Nlangan mirror arranged in the rear portion thereof, a burner arranged in the focus of said Mangan mirror, a shutter mounted to move laterally into position to screen the Mangan mirror, and a converging lens mounted to move into position in front of the burner.

5. In a headlight, the combination with a barrel-shaped headlight casing, of a concave reflector arranged in the rear closed end of said casing, a burner arranged in the focus of said reflector, a rock-shaft arranged to extend longitudinally along one side of the casing above the lower side of the latter, a pair of arms projecting laterally from said rock shaft within the casing and respectively in front and in rear of the burner, a shutter mounted upon the rear arm, a converging lens mounted upon the front arm, pockets located outside of the headlight casing and communicating with the interior of the latter in register with the respective arms, and means for oscillating said rockshaft.

6. In a headlight, the combination with a suitable headlight casing, of a burner therein, a reflector arranged in the rear of the headlight, a lens adjustably mounted in front of the burner, bell crank mechanism for rocking said lens bodily into and out of the front field of light, and an operating cable extending from said leverage mechanism to a point remote from the headlight and accessible to the operator whereby the lens may be quickly shifted into and out of said field of light.

RICHARD H. IVELLES. lVitnesses ALBERT H. GRAVES, EMILIE ROSE. 

